Thursday, December 18, 2014

Four-wheeled Scooter




English / Indonesian

The main reason I design four-wheeled scooter because I often see familes riding scooters with too many passengers, a father, a mother and their two children. Very dangerous and It certainly prone to accidents, especially during rainy season because some people ride scooter at higher speed to avoid rain.

I design a four-wheeled scooter because it will make riding safer and easier. Why a scooter? Because scooter wheels are relatively small so it only need small space, unlike car wheels or a motorbike wheels that are larger and of course need more space. I design scooter that can has four passengers, two adults (father and mother) and their two small children.

Another reason I design it because I also often see people carrying large and heavy goods with scooters. For example when they bring a gallon of drinking water or  an LPG cylinder. The left hand holds heavy goods and only the right hand holding the steering handlebar. Really difficult and dangerous. I know it because sometimes I do that, too. With four wheeled scooter it will be safer and easier because it has four wheels and I design it to have more space.

Four-wheel vehicle is more stable than two-wheeled vehicle, The stability is very important. That's why I did not design three-wheeled. Three-wheleed is unstable..

I design two models, the first is the saddle is not splitted. (Picture 1) This is for those who rarely use a scooter to transport goods. The other has splitted saddle. (Picture 2) The middle saddle can be removed to load goods. It will very useful for people who often transporting goods. It can transport goods safely and comfortably. If needed, it can have small holes for the rope to tie goods. Of course, it must have stronger frame than motorbike because it bring load. It will have more 75 kg load than motorbike, approximately equal to the weight of one adult man. I think that is enough. It will able to bring a LPG cylinder or two gallons of drinking water. It also can transport many of other goods.

Because of its size roughly the same as two wheels scooter, only a little longer, if all the saddles behind the driver are removed, we can use it to load more goods through narrow alleys in urban environment, safer and more comfortable than two wheels scooter. (See picture 4).

Because Indonesia and many Asia countries have rainy season, it also can have cover if needed, made from lightweight material. (See the last picture). Perhaps from fiber. Because its space is not large, the door are one on the left and one on the right. Left front for driver and right-back for the passenger, for left lane countries as Indonesia. This cover can be disassembled as well. During dry season we can remove it, but when the rainy season begin, we can put it again. Or we can put the cover for both season.

Because it can have cover if needed, then hopefully many car owners will be interested to use four-wheel scooters for daily work. Because the scooter is small, it can reduce traffic jam in the street. And certainly can reduce fuel consumption. Cars need much more fuel than scooter, approximately four times. Average cars need 1 liter per 10-15 km, and scooter only need 1 liter per 60-70 km. Far more efficient and economical. I mean scooters with manual gears, not automatic scooter that need almost twice fuel consumption.

I estimate that the price of a four-wheeled scooter is not much different from two wheel scooter. We only need to add two more wheels and an iron plank under the saddle, so the production cost only increase slightly. It is affordable by the majority of our people (in Indonesia). With almost the same cheap price as two wheeled. 
Our principle is cheap, safe and comfortable.

Scooter which has only two wheels actually a dangerous vehicle because the rider must constantly maintain the balance. When it run around 40 km/h and then slip a little, the driver can instantly fall down in the middle of busy traffic. I sometimes see that kind of accident by myself.

Another benefit of four-wheeled scooter, when we ride on holyday and want to stop for a moment to relax and enjoy the sight, we do not need a kickstand, because it has four wheels. We simply stop the vehicle and we can sit comfortably on the scooter while relaxing and enjoying the sight. Compare it with a two-wheeled scooter that we should have kickstand when we stop, and we cannot sit comfortably because the saddle tilted a bit.

This four-wheeled scooter fuel consumption is at most the same as two wheeled, 60km/liter. Fuel efficient as well. When at home this scooter also does not require any special parking place because its size is not much different from a two wheeled. We can park it in the living room at night. Most people in Indonesia usually park their scooter in the living room at night. Especially for Indonesian who live in urban area. And many people in the countryside also do the same, in the living rooms. It may sound weird, but this is true. Most people here don't have special garage for scooter, because of its small size.

This design is only an overview. The size and some details of this scooter can be revised if needed.